(1) Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with a gripper assembly for use in a machine for pulling over and lasting toe portions of shoes and with such machines when incorporating such gripper assemblies. The term "shoe" where used herein is used generically as indicating articles of outer footwear generally and including such articles in the course of their manufacture.
(2) Prior Art
Machines for pulling over and lasting toe portions of shoes conventionally comprise shoe support means for supporting, bottom down, a shoe assembly comprising an upper on a last and an insole on the last bottom, a plurality of gripper assemblies arranged in a generally inverted U-formation about the shoe support means, means for effecting relative heightwise movement between the shoe support means and the gripper assemblies whereby the toe end portion of the upper of a shoe supported by the shoe support means and gripped by the gripper assemblies can be tensioned on its last, and wiper means by which lasting marginal portions of the upper, tensioned as aforesaid, are wiped over and pressed against corresponding marginal portions of the insole of the shoe assembly.
In machines of the aforementioned type, it is often the case that various gripper assemblies are differently constructed according to their position in relation to the shoe support means; further the cost of manufacturing the grippers tends to be greater than if the various assemblies were standard one with another. Furthermore, it is frequently the case that, in order to re-set the various gripper assemblies in relation to one another according to the style of shoe to be operated upon, relatively complicated mechanisms are provided and the re-setting operation tends to be time-consuming and tedious. What is more, whereas the individual design of gripper assembly can be dictated to some degree by the general requirements for re-setting, where standard gripper assemblies are provided, the re-setting facilities have also to be standard, and thus accommodate whichever position the gripper assembly is located in.
It is the object of the present invention therefore to provide an improved gripper assembly for use in a shoe toe lasting machine, which gripper assembly is provided with relatively simple setting facilities, but which can nevertheless be used in any of the various localities in relation to the shoe support means of the machine which the gripper assembly is to form part.